Klumpenhouwer's family said he was the second-eldest boy in a family of 13 children and had planned to marry his girlfriend.

"It is with great sadness that we learned of Anthony’s death in Afghanistan. He was such an important part of all our lives and will be dearly missed. The coming days and weeks will be an intensely private time for the family," they said in a statement released Friday.

In interviews with the Toronto Star, his family also described the 25-year-old as a born soldier and a country boy at heart, even though he studied computer science for a time in Toronto.